Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]DANFS, Augury (AM-149) (builder, dates, full service narrative; verbatim text via archived NHHC page 2021-07-23 and losthistory.net hazegray transcription - live NHHC page returned 404 on 2026-09-22) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry 'Augury' (AM-149), full entry incl. spec line
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS records Augury (AM-149): laid down 7 December 1942 at Tampa, Fla., by the Tampa Shipbuilding Co., Inc.; launched 23 February 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Helen K. MacLean; commissioned 17 March 1943, Lt. A. G. Wood, USNR, in command. Service: shakedown out of Little Creek, Va., 8 April-8 May 1943; departed 10 May as convoy escort for the west coast; Canal Zone 19 May; San Francisco 2-22 June; arrived Kodiak, Alaska, 29 June and reported to TF 91; for the remainder of her U.S. career she escorted shipping between Kodiak, Dutch Harbor, Adak, Amchitka, Attu, Shemya, and Chernofski and conducted minesweeping in the bays, inlets, and passes of the Aleutian archipelago. On 23 June 1945 she began four weeks of familiarization training for a Soviet crew; on 18 July 1945 she was decommissioned and simultaneously transferred to the Soviet Navy under lend-lease; commissioned as 'T-524' (sic - see ev-05; Russell shows the correct designation T-334 and that T-524 was ex-YMS-145); retained by the Soviet Union indefinitely; struck from the Navy list 1 January 1983. Spec line: dp. 650; 184'6" x 33'0" x 9'9"; 14.8 k.; cpl. 104; 1x3", 4x40mm; cl. Admirable.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1942-1983
- Population
- TASCO construction trades (Tampa, 1942-43); wartime crew (design complement 104)
- Limitations
- Establishes identity, construction, and service history only - the entry contains no asbestos, material, or insulation information whatsoever. Live NHHC page 404 on 2026-09-22 (standing Batch-01 link-rot defect); verbatim text via the 2021-07-23 archived NHHC capture and the hazegray transcription (losthistory.net mirror). Commissioning year 1943 conflicts with the TASCO yard delivery table and multiple compilations (March 1944) - carried in gaps. Soviet designation 'T-524' is superseded by Russell's NHC monograph (T-334).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-augury-am149-01
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[2]NavSource Online, Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive - Augury (MSF-149) ex-AM-149, ex-AMc-126 (reclassification note, specifications, CO list, BuShips photo captions, Soviet-era designations; Wayback capture 2024-05-27 - live navsource.org unreachable, DNS failure, 2026-09-22) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource page 11/02149 (Wayback capture 2024-05-27), chronology block, specifications block, CO list, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource compiles: 'Originally planned as Coastal Minesweeper, Augury (AMc 126); Reclassified as a Minesweeper, AM-149, 21 February 1942'; laid down 7 December 1942 by Tampa Shipbuilding Co. Inc., Tampa FL; launched 23 February 1943; commissioned USS Augury (AM-149) 17 March 1943; decommissioned 18 July 1945 at Cold Bay, AK, transferred to the Soviet Union and reclassified T-334; 'Participated in the Kurile Island Landing Operations in August 1945'; converted to a dispatch ship; named Gazimur 12 January 1955; reclassified by U.S. Navy as fleet minesweeper (steel hull) MSF-149 on 7 February 1955; reclassified [Soviet] receiving ship BRN-12, 27 February 1956; 'Scrapped in the early 1960s'; struck from the Navy Register 1 January 1983. Specs: 650 t; 184'6" x 33' x 9'9"; 14.8 kts; cpl. 104; one 3"/50 DP mount, two twin 40mm mounts, one Hedgehog projector, two depth-charge tracks; propulsion 'Two 1,710shp ALCO 539 diesel engines, Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear, two shafts' (class-level tabulation: 855 shp per engine, 1,710 shp total). COs: LT Arthur George Wood Jr. USNR 17 Mar 1943 - 9 May 1944; LCDR John Edward Stonington USNR 9 May 1944 - 18 Jul 1945. BuShips photos BS 63316/63317 show the ship in camouflage 32/21D 'at Tampa, FL on 18 March 1944.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1942-1983 (USN recordkeeping); 1945-~1960 (USSR)
- Population
- Crew; Soviet crew post-1945
- Limitations
- Secondary volunteer-compiled archive (authoritative as a data lead, not a primary document). Internally inconsistent on the commissioning year - the chronology line reads 17 March 1943 while its own BuShips photo caption dates the ship at Tampa 18 March 1944, a year she was otherwise in Alaskan service; the 1944 commissioning conflict is carried in gaps. 'Scrapped early 1960s' vs Russell's 1960 - consistent at year level. No asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-augury-am149-02
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[3]Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945 (HyperWar/ibiblio compilation), AM-149 USS Augury entry [other_primary]
- Locator
- HyperWar AM-149 entry, specifications block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- HyperWar's Navy 1940-1945 compilation lists AM-149: 625 tons; 184'6" length; 33' beam; 10' draft; 15 knots; one 3"/50; complement 104; 'Diesel-electric engines, twin screws, 1,800 h.p.'; 'Built at Tampa Ship and commissioned 1944'; 'Transferred to U.K. under Lend-Lease, 1940.' The entry contains two demonstrable errors and one boilerplate mismatch: (1) 'Transferred to U.K. under Lend-Lease, 1940' is impossible template boilerplate - the hull was not laid down until 1942 and was transferred to the USSR in 1945; (2) 'commissioned 1944' contradicts DANFS's 17 March 1943 (the commissioning-year conflict is real but HyperWar's phrasing is part of the generic class boilerplate); (3) 'Diesel-electric' is the compilation's generic class line - the documented AM-136..AM-165 plant is ALCO 539 direct-drive diesel with reduction gear, not electric drive.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1940-1945
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation retained for the corroborating details (complement 104, dimensions, Tampa builder, commissioned-in-1944 reading consistent with the yard table) and to document its errors explicitly - nothing from this entry is load-bearing. No asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-augury-am149-03
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[4]shipbuildinghistory.com (Tim Colton compilation), Tampa Shipbuilding (TASCO) yard production table - hull 59: 'AM-149 Augury, US Navy, minesweeper, 650d, 180, 17 Mar 1944, to USSR as T-524, scrapped 1954' [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipbuildinghistory.com TASCO yard table, hull 59 row
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The builder-yard production table lists Augury as TASCO yard hull 59 with delivery/commissioning date 17 March 1944 - a year later than DANFS's 17 March 1943. The 1944 reading is independently consistent with: sister Astute (AM-148), built at the same yard on identical keel (7 Dec 1942) and launch (23 Feb 1943) dates, commissioning 17 January 1944; the BuShips photo caption dating the ship at Tampa 18 March 1944; and the class-typical multi-month fitting-out interval (a 22-day launch-to-commissioning under the 1943 reading would be unprecedented in the class). The table's Soviet-era details ('T-524', 'scrapped 1954') are stale Cold-War-era data superseded by Russell (T-334; scrapped 1960 - see ev-05).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1942-1944
- Population
- TASCO construction trades (Tampa, 1942-43)
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation of yard production records, not a primary document - but construction-side data independent of the DANFS chain. The commissioning-year conflict is genuinely unresolved: DANFS's 1943 is carried as the authoritative-source date in the record fields, and this row documents the counter-evidence. No asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-augury-am149-04
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[5]Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Naval Historical Center / Department of the Navy, Washington, 1997 (ISBN 0-945274-35-1; 'The U.S. Navy in the Modern World' series no. 4) - official NHC monograph based on U.S. and Russian Federation archival access [other_primary]
- Locator
- Russell 1997, pp. 32 (photo captions re: Metelov, Stonington, T-334 HQ ship), 38-40 (appendix transfer table row: Augury (AM 149) -> T-334, 19 Jul., 1960-scrapped)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The NHC monograph's appendix table 'U.S. Navy Combatant Ships Transferred to the USSR Under Project HULA, May-September 1945' maps Augury (AM 149) to Soviet T-334, transfer date 19 July 1945, disposition '1960-scrapped.' Text and captions confirm: Senior Lieutenant Aleksei K. Metelov was Augury's prospective Soviet commanding officer (shown with LCDR J. E. Stonington, Augury's U.S. CO); T-334 served as Major General A. R. Gnechko's headquarters ship for the Kuril Island operation (the August 1945 Shumshu assault). Russell's sourcing (NAVSHIPS 250-012 Ships Data Vol. II, 1 Jan 1949; Berezhnoi, Flot SSSR lendl-lease reference) identifies T-334 as Augury and T-524 as the ex-USS YMS-145 - correcting DANFS's 'T-524.' Program context: 149 vessels transferred at Cold Bay; ~12,000 Soviet personnel trained; 27 frigates and 15 LCI(L)s later returned; 'Settlement of Lend Lease, Reciprocal Aid and Claims' agreement 18 October 1972.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1945-1972
- Population
- Soviet crew and embarked assault-force staff (T-334, 1945-1960)
- Limitations
- Official post-Cold-War history with Soviet-archive access - the strongest available source for the transfer designation, date (19 July vs DANFS's 18 July - conflict documented), and 1960 scrapping. Documents transfer/service/disposition, not construction materials or asbestos content. The 'headquarters ship' role places the hull inside a combat operation while Soviet-manned - no exposure-relevant material information follows from it.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-augury-am149-05
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[6]Fleischer WE, Viles FJ Jr, Gade RL, Drinker P, 'A health survey of pipe covering operations in constructing naval vessels,' J Ind Hyg Toxicol 28:9-16 (Jan 1946), PMID 21016030; Corn JK, Starr J, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' Am J Ind Med 11(3):359-373 (1987), PMID 3555021; Atlas shipyards.json record 'tampa-bay-shipbuilding' (yard-level tier 3 product profile) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Fleischer 1946 pp. 9-16 (materials section); Corn & Starr 1987 pp. 359-373; shipyards.json yard_id 'tampa-bay-shipbuilding'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Wartime Navy construction-era asbestos use is documented at the program level: Fleischer et al. (1946) found amosite 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels' under Navy specification (blended with chrysotile), and Corn & Starr (1987) document the WWII shipbuilding surge in asbestos fireproofing/insulation. The builder yard is documented at yard level in the Atlas dataset (tampa-bay-shipbuilding, tier 3: pipe insulation, thermal/block insulation, gaskets, valve packing, fireproofing, brake linings; 16,000 peak WWII employment). For a 1942-43-built steel minesweeper of this class the era-consistent product set is diesel exhaust and muffler lagging, machinery-space thermal/acoustic insulation, gaskets and packing, electrical cable and switchboard insulation, accommodation joiner material and deck composition, and winch/windlass/sweep-gear brake linings.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1942-1945 (construction era); wartime survey period
- Population
- TASCO construction trades (Tampa, 1942-43); wartime crew (cpl. 104); Soviet crew 1945-~1960; Soviet scrappers ~1960
- Limitations
- Era/class/yard inference only - neither paper names this hull or class, the Fleischer survey centers on steam-plant pipe covering in Navy contract yards, and the yard dataset record is yard-level (and conflates TASCO with the separate McCloskey/Tampa Bay Shipbuilding lineage - see gaps). Augury's documented direct-drive diesel plant (no boilers, no steam distribution) means the heavy steam-line insulation load does not apply; the inference set is correspondingly lighter and narrower. Does not establish that asbestos-containing material was or was not installed aboard this hull, nor quantity, nor present-day presence.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-augury-am149-06
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[7]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked, HTTP 403)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's asbestos-protection program and its insulation-removal policies applicable across the fleet - program context for the era in which Augury was built and operated (though the hull left U.S. custody in 1945, before the remediation decades the report addresses).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; fleet insulation-removal crews (program level)
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation naming no individual hull; establishes Navy-wide policy context only. Does not establish what, if anything, was aboard this vessel. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403) - content via product-page description, same limitation as Batch 01.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-augury-am149-07
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[8]Batch-1172 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS (archived), hazegray transcription, NavSource (archived), HyperWar compilation, Russell/NHC Project Hula monograph, shipbuildinghistory TASCO yard table, NARA catalog, NVR; CourtListener API v4 attempted (authenticated) - throttled [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-augury-am149-01 through sl-uss-augury-am149-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located in the sources searched: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, preservation record, or retrievable docketed case naming USS Augury / AM-149 / AMc-126 / MSF-149 / T-334 / Gazimur was found (see search_ledger). Boundary of the negative: the CourtListener API v4 opinion and RECAP docket searches were hard-throttled for the day (HTTP 429, 2,800/day cap exhausted by parallel batch work, ~3 h to reset at research time) - the hull-specific litigation check is logged as blocked, not completed. Web-indexed legal content (opinion mirrors, marketing claims) surfaced no qualifying litigation and one uncitable settlement claim (carried in gaps).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 2026-09-22
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - 1942-43 Navy construction is era-consistent with asbestos-containing materials - and the CourtListener throttle bounds the litigation half of this negative finding until the docket battery can be re-run. The hull was scrapped in the USSR ~1960, so no present-day survey pathway exists. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-augury-am149-08
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[9]NARA archival leads for this hull: BuShips still photographs BS 63316 and BS 63317 (camouflage 32/21D, Tampa, dated 18 March 1944 per NavSource caption); RG 24 WWII deck logs and muster rolls for Augury (AM-149), 1943-45; RG 19 Bureau of Ships General Information Book and Tampa Shipbuilding (TASCO) construction-contract file; Project Hula transfer/custody records (Russell's source apparatus: NAVSHIPS 250-012 Ships Data Vol. II; NARA Cold Bay files) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource photo captions (BS 63316/63317); catalog.archives.gov (SPA shell); Russell 1997 bibliography
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Hull-level primary records exist or are expected in NARA holdings: the two BuShips photos are confirmed to exist (documented via NavSource captions) and are themselves probative in the commissioning-year conflict (dated 18 March 1944 at Tampa). WWII deck logs and muster rolls for AM-149 should exist in RG 24 holdings; the RG 19 General Information Book and the TASCO contract file are the plausible home of hull-level material schedules; Project Hula transfer/custody records document the 1945 handover. Identifier-level confirmation was not possible this pass - catalog.archives.gov returns a non-JSON SPA shell to scripted queries (same defect noted in batch-1158).
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1942-1945
- Population
- Crew rosters (deck logs/muster rolls); material specifications (BuShips files)
- Limitations
- Archival lead only - the BuShips photos are confirmed extant via NavSource captions, but deck-log, muster-roll, and BuShips file-unit identifiers were not resolved (catalog API blocked to scripts) and contents were not retrieved; existence of a deck log does not establish that any material schedule or asbestos mention exists for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-augury-am149-09
-
[10]Air & Liquid Systems Corp. v. DeVries, 586 U.S. 446 (2019) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion of the Court, 586 U.S. 446 (No. 17-1101)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Supreme Court maritime-law framework ('bare-metal defense') governing Navy-vessel-era asbestos product-liability claims against equipment manufacturers - the doctrinal posture under which any asbestos claim involving this vessel would proceed.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 2019 (opinion)
- Limitations
- Doctrinal context only. The opinion does not name this vessel, this class, or any minesweeper; it establishes the legal framework, not exposure. No asbestos claim naming this hull was located (and the CourtListener docket battery was throttled at research time - see ev-08).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-augury-am149-10